Silent Night
by DBCrazy
Summary: I wondered what it was that made Booth say "Silent Night" during their moment of silence.


A/N: I want to thank dawnsfire for looking this over for me before heading out for Christmas with her family. She gave me a wonderful idea and pointed me in the direction of some weak spots - what I ended up doing with them is all mine since she's outta here now. I hope you like it.

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**_Silent Night_**

Rated: K (Fluff)  
Post _The Goop on the Girl_

Sitting at the table holding Brennan's hand, eyes closed in a moment of silence, he couldn't help himself but to offer some measure of a prayer as the words "silent night" passed his lips. He felt her turn and give him one of her looks and when he thought it safe, he peeked out, first one eye, then both. Satisfied, he returned to his silent prayer.

******

After the meal they sat around the table talking for a long while until the inevitable had to be confronted. The clean up. Booth was feeling generous and took up a position at the sink, readying himself for the onslaught of dishes. Squeezing an abundance of soap into the running water he rolled up his sleeves and dove in. Brennan took the spot beside him, dish towel in hand. It wasn't long before Booth had succeeded in sudsing Brennan's nose a couple times, enjoying the site of her crossed eyes while trying to blow them off. It worked the first time but the second time she didn't give him that satisfaction and just left them there while she splashed him good with a large wooden spoon slapped in the rinse water. Max caught a glimpse of them from the couch and hollered that if they wanted to horse around they needed to take it outside.

With that they both turned and grinned at each other. Brennan shifted back to the dishes as Booth leaned in and waggled his eyebrows at her. She didn't understand, so he removed the dish towel from her hand and placed it on the counter. "Booth, what ..." she started, but he shoosh'd her. He cocked his head toward the door, indicating that he wanted to _blow this pop stand_. Funny how the mind works, he amended his thought he was beaming at her to a simple _let's sneak out of here._ She looked back at everyone with wide eyes and Booth felt his new plans already foiled. Almost resigned to pressing on with the dishes he remembered back to the Founding Fathers and the night they had done the 'Dine 'n Dash'. He had to try!

He turned to her with the most solemn face he could muster under the circumstances, and curled his thumb and forefinger tightly to the size of a dried up raisin and placed them to his forehead. _Did the woman have a clue about charades?_ She grimaced at him and again he felt his chance slipping away. Then he had it! He took that 'raisin' and placed it on her 'frontal lobe' and waited. Again he jerked his head toward the door. Finally he saw the acceptance he had been waiting for in those beautiful eyes. _Yes!_

With that they both grinned, went and grabbed their coats, and yelled an excited "g'bye" over their shoulders as they slammed the door.

Jack looked up in surprise as he gave Cam and Angela big mischievous eyes, then they all busted out laughing. Sweets and Daisy had been preoccupying themselves just a little too much and now Sweets looked up as if to figure out what had happened. He blushed as if he hoped they weren't having fun at his expense, whereas Daisy obviously didn't care and grabbed him again to resume their little pre-bunny hop! Michelle had apparently seen enough and made her way to the sink to fill in for the two deserters. Margaret followed her, picking up her cousin's dish towel, but instead of Ben Franklin falling from her lips she decided to chance a little conversation. "So, Michelle, ..."

Meanwhile, Booth and Brennan were running down the street as if they were trying to escape the others. Brennan finally glanced around and when she didn't see anyone she called out, "Booth, they're not chasing us. You can stop running." Within two strides he had ceased his forward momentum and turned back. Brennan must have hit a little patch of ice because she wobbled a little and Booth reached out to keep her from falling. In so doing, one hand landed around her waist and the other grabbed her hand. As she steadied herself he removed his hand around her middle, but squeezed her hand ever so lightly. They resumed their course down the sidewalk as the sun was just beginning to fade behind them, and in no time they were enjoying the Christmas lights along their way.

The silence that passed between them was warm and eventually Booth started in humming. Brennan looked up at him, smiling as she listened.

"Booth, is that your favorite Christmas carol?"

As he inclined his head in her direction he reached down with his other hand to bring hers into the crook of his elbow. Now warming her fingers with his he continued the melody, seemingly watching the pictures brought to mind by the lyrics. She continued to watch him and finally he answered, "Yeah, Bones, that's my favorite."

"Why?"

This time when he leaned in he did look at her. Was she just making conversation or did she really want to know? There was no bias in her voice when she'd asked and yet he didn't want the evening they were enjoying to turn into a debate. The look he saw in her eyes wasn't a challenge, just simple curiosity. And so he started, "There's a few reasons, Bones." He began telling her of the truce between the British and German soldiers during the Christmas of 1914 and how they had joined each other in singing Silent Night. "In my book, Bones, that's a Christmas miracle; soldiers trusting their enemy enough to put down their guns." Then he mentioned the priest that had written the lyrics, presumably doing so while trudging through the snow to his Pops' house. He caught the way she looked at him, "What are you thinking, Bones?"

"Just listening," was all she said as she placed her free hand over Booth's arm trying to tuck it into his warmth. He started taking the chill off these fingers too, and returned to his humming. At the end of the verse he took up her question again. This time he wasn't talking about the history of the song, but rather its inspiration. He wasn't going to stop now, just because she didn't believe. He did. And she had asked.

"The rest of it ... the rest of it is just the simple beauty of how God made a way for us. Not some big ruler that's going to make the world a perfect place. A baby. Not tabloids and satellite news channels telling us he's great. A star, and shepherds being the ones chosen to witness it. I can just see it." He shifted his focus but kept going. "I know how I felt when I looked down on Parker, how I feel when I look at him still." He started to sing in mid verse, "... love's pure light. Radiant beams from Thy holy face, with the dawn of redeeming grace. Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth ..." He could feel her eyes and the last line returned to a hum. He wondered what she could be thinking, but he wasn't altogether sure he wanted to know.

He knew where they would end up someday. There was no mistaking that he and Bones were going to be together. He believed it in his heart as much as he did the song he'd had in his mind all day. He was pretty sure she still thought of Jesus as a zombie, but right now she didn't feel compelled to tell him so. Maybe, maybe this was another Christmas miracle.

With that thought he renewed his grasp of her hand in his and closed his eyes as he offered up another prayer. He peeked at her with one eye. She caught him this time! Grins broke out on both their faces.

He wasn't really the serenading type, but even so, he started again from the top, "Silent night ..."

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Merry Christmas everybody!!


End file.
